Food retailers such as supermarkets provide packets of pre-sliced food such as sliced bacon and sliced cheese.
Sliced food producers utilize slicing and weighing production lines to cut slices from a log of food. The log of food is fed into an entry side of a slicing unit and the slicing unit cuts slices from the log of food and places the slices onto a conveyor at an exit side of the slicing unit.
Typically a stack of slices is prepared before the conveyor transports that stack to a weigh unit or weigh station. The conveyor remains stationary during the slicing operation so that a stack or group of slices is stacked from the slicing unit onto the conveyor.
Once a predetermined number of slices have been cut, the conveyor transports the stack of slices to a weigh station. The stack is weighed at the weigh station and is either directed to a packing area if the weight of that stack is above a minimum requirement, or directed to a make-up station if the stack is underweight.
At the make-up station the underweight stack of slices is made up to the required minimum weight by an operator who adds an additional slice to the pack before it is directed to the packing area. This make-up operation is undesirable as it involves labour and can result in a pack weight that significantly exceeds the minimum weight requirement. Where a pack is sold based on the minimum weight amount, any excess weight over that minimum pack weight is given away as free product resulting in lost revenue.
In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved food slicing and weighing system or an improved weigh unit for a food slicing and weighing system or to at least provide the food processing industry with a useful choice.